Richmond Races

This weekend, I traveled with my running group to Richmond. Some of us ran the 8K, some the half marathon, some the full marathon. It was brutal weather: storms overnight, weird barometric pressure, 30 mph gusts, and eventually sunshine to warm the humid air to 70 degrees. Almost everyone overheated over 26.2 miles. But they all finished, which is quite an accomplishment in itself.

There’s been a fascinating series on the Science of Sport blog about thermoregulation. The gist is that you slow down before you even begin to overheat, in anticipation of the event. But the weather Saturday started coolish and humid and turned very hot and sunny, so that runners didn’t have a chance to adjust their paces until it was probably too late.

Running the 8K gave me a chance to stamp my season DONE. After not running out my training at Beach2Battleship, I needed the closure. Cheering at the race was the real highlight of the day, as I witnessed my running partners and other friends slogging it out. We stationed ourselves at two points, around 13.5 and 23.5, so we got a chance to see runners twice. How telling their form was at the later stop! Form and breath, form and breath.